Friday, June 17, 2016

Through the Great Lake Lens – Part I

We wrote earlier a series about
seeing Mesoamerica through Mesoamerican Lens, so we thought we would included
one about seeing Great Lakes through Great Lakes Lens. It is not that there is
so much to say about these two Land of Promise models (Mesoamerica and Great
Lakes), i.e., Great Lakes theorisits trying to convince people that the
Nephite Land of Promise was in the Great Lakes area.

The problem is, like the
Mesoamerica Lens, once someone sees the Book of Mormon through the Great Lakes
Lens, they cannot unsee it! Or stated differently, though the Great Lakes ideas
and theories do not stand up to the scriptural record, these theorists take the
stance that modern-day prophets and church leaders, such as Oliver Cowdery,
hold the key to the location of the Land of Promise. Obviously, Oliver believed that
the Hill Cumorah in upstate western New York is the same hill as mentioned by
Mormon and Moroni in the scriptural record, but since the Church hasmade no stance on the subject, or even
suggested that it was the same hill, we cannot just assume that Oliver’s ideas,
or even Joseph Smith’s ideas about a location are eitherChurch sponsored, or factual. After all,
Joseph never stated that the Book of Mormon took place anywhere other than in
the Western Hemisphere. That he made comments about South America and Central
America (Mesoameirca) as well as the northeastern U.S. does not translate into
this is where the Nephites of the scriptural record lived and fought their
battles; however when understanding that Joseph as well as numerous church
leaders, past and present have for the most part spoken of the entire Western
Hemisphere (both North and South America) as the Land of Promise, any comment
made about anywhere would hold true. If the Nephites left the area of South
America in Hagoth’s ships and went northward and settled in Mesoamerica, then his
comments about Central America would hold true. If the Nephites and Lamanites
traveled even further north into the United States area, as we have suggested
here from the beginning, then Joseph’s comments about Zelph and Onandagus, as
well as writing to his wife about there having been in the Plains of the
Nephites is also true. When John L. Stephens wrote his
book Incidents of Travel in Central
America, Chiapas and Yucatan, which included Ferderick Catherwood’s
numerous drawings of Mayan ruins, Joseph Smith said this was proof of the
ancient Nephite civilization being in the Americas. He did not say that those
were where the Book of Mormon scriptural record took place—many have combined
those two atttudes, but Joseph Smith did not. He did, however, suggest that
such showed Lehi must have landed to the south of there, and that some have
attributed the comment “south of Darien” to him, though it seems unlikely that Joseph Smith
knew Panama by the term Darien at that time.

Do you see two faces or a vase? Do you see an Old Lady, a Young Woman, or a Bulldog?

The point is, as there are with
so many things, different ways to understand what one reads, sees, and hears.
If you are looking at the Book of Mormon through Mesoamerican Lens, you see
what is favorable to the Mesoamerican model. If, however, you are looking
through Great Lakes Lens, you see what is favorable to the Great Lakes Model. Take Letter VII of Oliver
Cowdery to William Wines Phelps, where Oliver obviously makes the connection
between the hill Cumorah in New York and the hill Cumorah in the Book of
Mormon. And frankly, it is totally understandable that he would do so. After
all, it would seem obvious to him and to members and leaders of the early
Church that such would naturally be the case. But that does not make it a fact,
it only verifies that it was Oliver’s opinion. That Joseph Smith included
Oliver’s letter in his history sounds like he verified Oliver’s statement;
however, another, just as plausible rationale is available to us—Joseph was
trying to finish his history at a time when he was being hunted, when he was in
hiding, when his very life was in danger. In June 1844 Joseph Smith was jailed
and killed—two years and nine months earlier Stephens finished his two-volume
book set and a copy ended up in the hands of Joseph Smith. Between February and October 1842,
roughly two years before Joseph’s death, several lengthy extracts from
Stephen’s volumes were published in the Times
and Seasons, while Joseph Smith was editor. While it can be claimed that
Joseph Smith wrote or approved the publishing of the articles is very possible,
but actually unknown and has to fall under the category of opinion, since there
is no signature on the articles and no specific statement by Joseph in his
private writings or in anyone’s journal that he wrote them.

So if you look at this event
through Mesoasmerican Lens, you feel this verifies that Joseph Smith thought
the Nephite lands were in Mesoamerica. If you look at this through Great Lakes
Lens, you see no proven connection. President George Q. Cannon wrote
that: “There is
a tendency, strongly manifested at the present time among some of the brethren,
to study the geography of the Book of Mormon…but valuable as is the Book of
Mormon both in doctrine and history, yet it is possible to put this sacred
volume to uses for which it was never intended, uses which are detrimental
rather than advantageous to the cause of truth, and consequently to the work of
the Lord” (George
Q. Cannon, “The Book of Mormon Geography,” The Juvenile Instructor, January
1, 1890, pp18–19). The point is,
disagreement over opinions, even of those claimed to be stated by Joseph Smith,
or those made by Church leaders of the time, unless supported by the Church and
have scripture of that very fact behind them, can never be considered as facts, only as opinions. The point is, there
is only one way to look at the information at hand and that is through
scriptural record lens, i.e., does it match the Book of Mormon statements and
descriptions set forth by Nephi and Jacob, and all the others whose work was
abridged by Mormon and Moroni.

We don’t have a
single Church doctrinal statement of fact that the two Cumorahs are the same or
different. No amount of opinion will change that fact, and nowhere in the
scriptural record can we verify there was one or two hills named Cumorah. In
fact, we do not have any verification of the local that the Book of Mormon took
place in the Great Lakes, and much to suggest it did not, including what we
have suggested numerous times such as those scriptural descriptions that do not
match the Great Lake location, such as not having:• Mountains, whose
height was great;• 2 animals
significant to man as the elephant and more so than the horse or ass, but
unknown to the farmer Joseph Smith;• 2 grains on the
level of importance as Wheat and Barley that were unknown to the farmer Joseph
Smith;• An herb that cures
killing fevers (malaria);• 4 Seas, with the
West Sea open to the ocean over which they sailed and landed;• Winds and ocean
currents that would push a sailing ship all the way to the Land of Promise to
land along the West Sea southin the Land of Nephi;• A climate matching
that of Jerusalem where seeds from Jerusalem would have grown exceedingly and
provided an abundant crop;• A landing site
where gold, silver and copper would have been found in abundance through
walk-past observation;• Ruins of all types
of buildings, stone walls surrounding cities and the entire land; of temples,
palaces, synagogues and homes;• The Land of Promise
as an island;• Evidence of
circumcision as part of the Law of Moses;• A tower next to the
temple;• The ancient B.C.
use of silks and fine-twined linen;• Use of metallurgy
dating to 2000 B.C.;• Roads and highways
that led from city to city, land to land, and place to place;• Large forts and
small forts (resorts);• A Land Southward
completely surrounded by water except for the narrow neck of land;• A sea that divides
that land;• All manner of ore
throughout the Land of Promise;• A defendable narrow
pass that stretched for a day and a half travel;• Somewhere
worthwhile for Hagoth’s ships full of immigrants to go that was northward. Also, where Lehi
landed from his ocean voyage that covered the distance from Arabia to the Land
of Promise where they landed and where they immediately found a place to
settle, pitch their tents, plant their seeds to match a Mediterranean Climate,
a large forest, and gold, silver and copper, in the immediate vicinity.

None of these above
areas are speculative, or opinions, since they are all spelled out in
understandable detail within the scriptural record. Each must be looked at
through the scriptural record lens—not the Mesoamerican lens, or the Great
Lakes lens.

3 comments:

When you and Ira finish pounding the last bit of stuffing out of the strawman you have been pummeling for the last month, you should read Neville's book and educate yourselves on what you are actually disagreeing with.

Daniel, I don't need to read the book because it's all fiction. I've seen the maps of the NA model and they are easily disproved using the Book of Mormon. That is what Del has been doing for a long time. His work is correct. Try doing a little bit of research instead making such an ignorant comment. Ira